December 1938

The Supreme Court ruled that Missouri must either admit Lloyd Gaines to its all-white law school or provide a genuinely equal law school for Black students within the state. The ruling, secured by Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, was the first major NAACP legal victory against segregated graduate education.

Producer John Hammond presented an unprecedented concert at Carnegie Hall tracing the roots of Black American music from African drumming through field hollers, blues, gospel, boogie-woogie, and swing. Artists included Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Sonny Terry — the first time many of these forms appeared together on a major concert stage.